Every once in a while somebody asks me about Joel Osteen. Osteen is the pastor of the largest of the megachurches, and the author of a runaway bestselling self-help book.

I'm not a student of Osteen. I haven't read much of his book, nor have I seen him much on TV. I may have an incomplete view of what he teaches, but I have a problem with the things he does teach.

On Monday, a group of protesters gathered outside the Vatican, er, 1333 S. Kirkwood Road.

Their complaint: Issues, Etc., a popular radio show on the LCMS's unpopular talk radio station, got cancelled without warning, and the host and producer were fired.

I know a man in his late 30s. He's not all that unusual. He was raised Christian, then sometime during his teenage years, whether it was in high school or college, he pretty much stopped going to church. He got married young, had a couple of kids, didn't live as comfortably as they would have liked at first, and he and his wife put their focus on improving their careers and trying to raise two children.

Something happened within the last couple of years, and now he's extremely interested in going to church. He reads his Bible, listens to Christian radio, and talks about it. None of this is terribly unusual. But he's been having some health problems, and those are a bit unusual.

I saw a particularly ignorant comment on Digg today in regards to Christianity (blaming evangelical Christianity for G. W. Bush's misguided tortue policies). I know I really shouldn't dignify ignorant comments on Digg with a response, but this time I have to. I responded there, and I'll respond with more detail here.

There's a story in today's Post-Dispatch about a local congregation and its dispute with the Missouri Baptist Convention. It seems the church has been encouraging its members to go to bars, and the convention isn't happy about that.

I agree with the pastor of the church: The people aren't going to come to you, so the church has to find people where they are.

I don't know if I should be admitting I watched the segment on Primetime on ABC tonight about the alleged Gospel according to Judas. But I made a conscious effort to watch it.

You don't get much depth in television sensationalism, er, news, not even in a 10-minute segment. So my reaction may be a bit unfair. Still, I'll give it, for what it's worth.

Reading Charlie's blog pointed me at a debate (I'll use polite words) between a Calvinist and a Lutheran. I'm vaguely familiar with the Calvinist; the Lutheran is someone I've met personally and I've even fixed his computer and on one or two occasions ate lunch with him.

I'm going to keep my diatribe simple. Very simple. Because I fall somewhere in between the two of them. (But I am Lutheran.)

Venzuelan vice president Jose Vicente Rangel is now calling Pat Robertson a terrorist and saying his statement that the United States should assassinate neo-communist, neo-Mohammedan Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is "very Christian."

I'm not comfortable with the evangelical Christian label, but people frequently make me wear it. Statements like this are a big reason why I don't like the label.

Most Christians will say they know Christianity when they see it. And this isn't it.

Dennis Rader, the confessed BTK serial killer, blamed the killings today on a demon inside him.

I don't know if he was speaking literally or figuratively.

I believe in demons. I also believe in cop-outs.

First things first: I am not a pastor. While I have nine years of Lutheran primary and secondary education, my degree came from the University of Missouri and I have exactly zero days of formal, master's-level theological training.

But I am a published author, I spent four years and thousands of dollars (and thousands more of scholarship money) studying journalism. So hopefully what I lack in Bible knowledge, I make up for in writing knowledge. And if denominations are to grow, especially the more conservative ones, I think more of the latter is going to be a necessity.